Jeremy Corbyn: Tory mess is now Europe’s problem

Jeremy Corbyn was the star at a meeting of Socialist leaders ahead of Thursday’s European Union leaders’ summit, telling the group that U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron is turning an internal Conservative Party fight about the EU into a Europe-wide problem.

The left-wing Leader leader told POLITICO that Cameron “is obsessing about four rather vague claims, a debate that is only about the Conservatives.” Instead, Corbyn said the British prime minister should “recognize inequality across Europe and the need to do something about it.”

Corbyn expressed bemusement at the idea that Cameron may have a list of priorities for this summit. “I am not sure David Cameron knows what he is focused on … He has come here for an argument.”

The Labour leader was particularly critical of the most controversial demand that the U.K. government has made of the EU — to allow the different treatment of citizens of the U.K. and other EU countries when it comes to entitlement to welfare payments. “If someone is working, paying taxes like anyone else, he should have access to the same benefits as everyone else,” Corbyn said.

The Labour veteran signaled he would try to play a positive role in the debate by pushing social and working rights into the U.K. referendum campaign, saying in the interview that the EU can succeed if it becomes more inclusive. “There are EU laws making it difficult or illegal to intervene in industries like the steel industry,” he said.

Earlier, Corbyn met Gianni Pittella, leader of the Socialist MEPs. Pittella told POLITICO his advice to Corbyn was: “Put the referendum to British citizens in the emotional way. The weakest will be even weaker, with less rights” if the UK votes to leave.

Pittella said that British voters need to consider what voting to leave will feel like the morning after the vote: “The EU must indeed be changed, but let’s do it together … why do you want to leave Europe? There is no major reason.”

This article was updated to add comments from Gianni Pittella.

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Alan

There are many in the UK who would disagree with Chairman Jeremy, who incidentally seemed to have unilaterally Labour Party policy in favour of restriction of benefits for migrants. Perhaps as a serial party rebel, having voted against previously leadership some 500 times he simply has no clue as to what his party policy actually is. Specifically, much of the push back against migration can be traced back to the impact of the open door migration policies of his predecessors as evidenced by the swing in Labour electoral heartlands towards UKIP. Another example to conservatives having to clean up a Labour mess!